The is a breakout board for the popular XBee modules. The board includes easy-to-sew tabs and all the necessary power regulation to run on the LilyPad wearable Arduino electronics system. It has surface-mount headers to keep the bottom of the board smooth, which eliminates sharp poking points that would be undesirable in clothing.

This new version of the LilyPad XBee board includes a reset button.

LilyPad XBee was co-developed by Kate Hartman and Rob Faludi. It works with most of the popular XBee module types (except S3B). A module is not included. The lower image on the right side shows a module installed for illustration purposes.

Pinout

Counter-clockwise from the top. Pin descriptions are from 802.15.4 XBees, but others are similar.

Label

Description

XBee Pin

3.3V

Connect regulated power only; nominally limited to 3.4V

1

—

Ground

10

rx

Data in

2

tx

Data out

3

do8

Digital Output 8 (not supported yet)

4

rst

Reset

5

rssi

Received signal strength indicator / PWM output 0

6

pw1

PWM (pulse-width modulation) output 1

7

nc

No connection

8

slp

Sleep / Digital input 8 / DTR

9

+

Connect unregulated voltage here

—

Ground (alternate connection)

10

d4

Analog input 4 / Digital IO 4

11

d7

Digital IO 7 / CTS

12

on

ON light output

13

vrf

Voltage reference for analog/digital inputs

14

asc

Association light output / Analog input 5 / Digital IO 5

15

d6

Analog input 6 / Digital IO 6 / RTS

16

d3

Analog input 3 / Digital IO 3

17

d2

Analog input 2 / Digital IO 2

18

d1

Analog input 1 / Digital IO 1

19

d0

Analog input 0 / Digital IO 0

20

LilyPad Overview

LilyPad is a wearable e-textile technology developed by Leah Buechley. Each LilyPad is designed to have large connecting pads to allow them to be sewn into clothing. Various input, output, power, and sensor boards are available. Most are even washable — just remember to remove any batteries first (and, in this case, remove your XBee module).

See our LilyPad category to find more LilyPad components and conductive thread you can use to sew a circuit into clothing.

Note: Because XBees can draw a lot of current (e.g. an XBee Pro drawing 215mA), you may want to use something other than conductive thread to hook up this board to your LilyPad system. Conductive fabric strips are recommended, as they are much less resistive than conductive thread.